Heating and ventilating system for mobile homes

ABSTRACT

A mobile home construction is shown in which a forced ventilation cavity is provided between the ceiling and an insulated roof. A furnace circulates air through the rooms. Openings in the ceiling provide a return air path through the cavity to the furnace to thereby eliminate temperature and moisture control problems in the cavity.

time States Patent [191 Jacobson, Jr.

HEATING AND VEN'HILATING SYSTEM FOR MOBILE HOMES Dean Jacobson, Jr., 420 East Vernon, Fergus Falls, Minn. 56537 Filed: Sept. 15, 1971 App1.No.: 180,691

Inventor:

US. C11. ..98/33, 98/10, 98/31, 165/53, 237/45, 52/198 Int. Cl. ..F24f 13/00 Fieid of Search ..98/33 R, 33 A, 31, 98/10; 165/54, 41, 42, 53, 56; 237/45, 28,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1933 Peterson ..98/10 1,935,590 11/1933 Gorman ..165/42 2,203,814 6/ 1 940 Clements... 2,256,350 9/1941 Nystr0m....

2,610,567 9/1952 Davis 3,291,026 12/1966 Simpson ..98/31 Primary Examiner-Wil1iam .1. Wye Attorney-Paul A. Welter [57] ABSTRACT A mobile home construction is; shown in which a forced ventilation cavity is provided between the ceiling and an insulated roof. A furnace circulates air through the rooms. Openings in the ceiling provide a return air path through the cavity to the furnace to thereby eliminate temperature and moisture control problems in the cavity.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Patented April 17, 1973 3,727,538

INVENTOR flaw Jq'coasolv JR.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field ofthe Invention This invention relates generally to building constructions and more particularly relates to the construction of a forced ventilation cavity between the ceiling and roof ofa mobile home.

2. Description of the Prior Art In most mobile homes, the ceiling is insulated with batt-type insulation that simply lies between the roof rafters. This insulation lies on top of a polyethelene vapor barrier, which in turn lies on top of the ceiling tile. A sound deadening material is usually placed on top of the rafters and is covered by a galvanized steel sheet-metal roof. The rafters are of a built-up truss type that have openings through them. A cavity is thus defined above the ceiling insulation and below the sound deadening material mounted on the rafters. It has been essential to ventilate this cavity to prevent the accumulation of moisture in it and subsequent damage to the rafters, insulation and ceiling. This ventilation has been accomplished by placing ventilating grills at the ends of the mobile home and in the roof. While this does ventilate the cavity, it also causes cold air (or in the summer hot air) to be introduced through the ventilating grills into the cavity above the ceiling insulation. This insulation is often poorly installed because the light fixtures and wires hold it up. Further, there are normally gaps between it and the rafters that expose the ceiling board. These problems quite often make such an insulating system ineffective. If the insulation system is ineffective, considerable heat is lost through the ceiling into the cold, ventilated cavity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 1 have developed a new and unique method of ventilating the cavity while significantly improving the effect of the insulation being used. In the present invention, the blanket of insulation is not placed over the ceiling, but instead is mounted over the top of the rafters on a polyethelene vapor barrier and under the metal roof. A vapor barrier is also placed on top of the ceiling material. This provides a cavity between the two vapor barriers. Again, this cavity must be ventilated to prevent the accumulation of moisture. However, it cannot be ventilated to the outside without losing the value of the insulation. Therefore, I have provided suitable air openings in the ceiling so that the cavity can be used a part of the return air system for the heating unit. Air is circulated by a furnace through the rooms of the mobile home. One or more openings are provided in the ceiling so that at least a portion of this air flows into the cavity between the ceiling and the roof. Another return air opening leads back into the furnace room from the cavity so that air circulation through the cavi' ty is insured. The value of the insulation is preserved because the cavity becomes, in effect, a part of the mobile home interior. The air being forced through the cavity eliminates excess hot or cold air in the ceiling cavity and it evaporates moisture that might be present in the cavity, thereby preventing damage to the home or leakage of moisture into the rooms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a sectional end view of a typical mobile home construction, portions thereof being broken 5 away;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1, showing a prior art approach to insulating and ventilating the ceiling cavity; and

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing my inven- 0 tion.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, wherein like numerals are used throughout the several views to indicate like elements of the structure, there is disclosed in FIG. 1 a mobile home having a floor 10, opposite side walls 11 and 12, a ceiling 13 and a roof 14. The roof 14 is supported on the side walls 11 and 12 by a plurality of spaced rafters 15 extending between and supported by the side walls. Each of the rafters includes a horizontally extending base member 15a, 21 peakforming upper member 15b and a. plurality of spaced, vertically extending support plates 15c. Rafters 15 are of a built-up truss type, constructed from wood in the usual fashion. As shown in FIG. 1., each rafter 15 has openings therein between the support plates 150. The

' spacing of the rafters 15 between the ends of the mo bile home is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

As shown in FIGS. 2, the mobile home has a plurality of rooms l6, l7 and 18. Room 17 is a furnace roomv Most mobile home heating systems are of the forced hot air type, Mounted in room 17 is a furnace 19 ineluding a blower 19a for circulating air through the rooms of the mobile home. In the mobile home construction of FIG. 2, the blower 19a forces air outwardly to the rooms through a hot air duct 20 which is connected to a pair of oppositely extending ducts 21 and 22. In a typical mobile home, the furnace room 17 is centrally located so that the hot air ducts extend in opposite directions therefrom toward the opposite ends of the mobile home. In this embodiment, the ducts 21 and 22 extend beneath the floor 10 and are provided with discharge diffusers 23 from which air flows into a selected room or rooms. In some prior art mobile homes, the hot air duct is merely a grill in the furnace, but in most cases a duct made of metal carries the hot air to the diffuser registers located in various parts of the home. The hot air ducts are normally located beneath the floor, but they may also be located in the ceiling. In the prior art mobile home of FIG. 2, the cold air returns to the furnace 19 through the rooms such as 18, to a return air grill 24 on the furnace 19. In this type ofeold air return system, the cold air would pass under doors between the rooms or would pass through grills in the doors. In some prior art mobile homes, a cold air return duct or cavity is mounted under the floor with suitable return air openings into the rooms and into the furnace or furnace room.

In the prior art, as shown in FIG. 2, a vapor barrier 26, which can be a polyethelene sheet, is normally mounted between the ceiling 13 and the rafters 15. A thick insulating material in the form of batts 27 is then placed on vapor barrier 26 between the rafters 15. A typical light fixture 28 and associated electrical conduit 29 is mounted in and above the ceiling 13 of room 18. Such light fixtures and conduits normally disrupt the positioning of the batts 27, as shown, to thereby expose the ceiling to the chamber or cavity located between the ceiling and the roof. In the prior art, this chamber, designated generally by the numeral 30, is open to the outside air through ventilating grills 31 and 32 mounted in the roof and in the end walls of the chamber 30. Grills 31 and 32 must be provided to prevent the accumulation of moisture in chamber 30. At the same time, however, these grills permit cold air to enter the chamber 30. The presence of such cold air in chamber 30 may cause excessive heat loss from the rooms if the batts 27 of insulation are not properly installed. Even under the most careful conditions, however, there will be gaps between the batts 27 and the rafters 15. It is noted that in the prior art systems, the roof 14 is usually provided with a layer of sound deadening material 14a.

In FIG. 3, I show a mobile home construction similar to that shown in FIG. 2, except that it has been modified according to the invention. The same numerical designations will be used in FIG. 3, wherever possible, but accompanied by a prime designation. In this structure, a polyethelene vapor barrier 35 has been placed over the rafters 15, as shown. Other types of vapor barrier material such as aluminum foil, could also be used. A blanket 36 ofinsulating material is then placed over the vapor barrier 35. In FIG. 3, the thickness of the blanket 36 has been somewhat exaggerated to show the relative positioning of the various elements of the invention. Mounted on top of blanket 36 is the roof 14, which may be galvanized sheets of metal. The roof 14' is connected to the rafters I5, through the insulation 36 and vapor barrier 35 by nails, screws, or other bracket-type devices (not shown The vapor barrier 26 is retained on the ceiling 13. If the resulting chamber 30 were not ventilated, moisture problems would occur. If it were ventilated to the outdoors, however, the advantages of the insulation 36 would be lost. Therefore, I have provided a plurality of return air grills 37, 38 and 39 in ceiling 13' and vapor barrier 26 permitting air to pass between the rooms and the chamber 30. The system is designed so that the blower l9a will force air into the rooms such as 16 and 18 through the cold air return openings or grills 37 and 39, into chamber 30, returning to the furnace room 17 through opening 38, to be drawn back into the furnace through a return air grill 40. This return air, passing through chamber 30' picks up any moisture that would otherwise accumulate in the chamber. At-

the same time, the return air passing through the chamber 30 eliminates the accumulation of pockets of hot or cold air in the chamber. In addition, overall air circulation throughout the mobile home is greatly improved. These and other novel features of the present invention are encompassed by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a mobile home construction having at least one room, a ceiling for said room, a roof, means including rafter means for mounting said roof above said ceiling and defining a chamber overlying said ceiling, and air treating means for circulating air through said room, the improvement comprising:

a. a blanket of insulation mounted under said roof,

above said chamber;

b, an opening permitting passage of air between said chamber and said room;

c. a further opening into said chamber leading to said air treating means to thereby provide air circulation through said room and said chamber and;

d. a vapor barrier mounted under said blanket of insulation, and another vapor barrier overlying said ceiling, said chamber being located between said vapor barriers.

2. In a mobile home having a floor, a plurality of rooms, a ceiling, and a roof spaced from said ceiling by a plurality of spaced rafters having air flow passages therethrough to define a chamber between said ceiling and said roof, the improvement comprising:

a. a first vapor barrier overlying said rafters and a second vapor barrier overlying said ceiling, said chamber being located therebetween;

b. a blanket of insulation between said first vapor barrier and said roof;

c. said mobile home having air treating means in a first one of said rooms for circulating air to the other rooms thereof;

d. a first air return opening leading to said chamber in the ceiling of at least one of said other rooms; and

e. a second air return opening leading to said chamber in the ceiling of said first room, said air being circulated to said rooms by said air treating means then flowing into said chamber through said first opening and returning to said air treating means through said second opening after passage through said chamber.

3. The mobile home of claim 2 wherein first air return openings are provided in at least two of said other rooms, said first room being located therebetween.

4. In combination with a mobile home having a floor, opposite side walls, a plurality of rooms, a ceiling and a roof:

a. plurality of spaced rafters extending between and supported by said side walls, each of said rafters having:

I. a horizontally extending base member.

2. a peak-forming upper member connected at its opposite ends to said base member and spaced from said base member therebetween, and

3. spaced, vertically extending supports connecting said members;

b. a first vapor barrier overlying said rafters;

c. a blanket of insulation mounted above said vapor barrier;

d, means mounting said roof on said rafters over said blanket of insulation;

e. a second vapor barrier overlying said ceiling;

f. means securing said ceiling and said second vapor barrier beneath said base members of said rafters, thereby defining a ventilation cavity between said vapor barriers;

g. air treating means in a first room for circulating air to the other rooms of said mobile home;

h. a first air return opening in the ceiling and second vapor barrier of at least one of said other rooms; and

i, a second air return opening in the ceiling and second vapor barrier of said first room, permitting air to circulate from said other rooms through said ventilation cavity and return to said air treating means to thereby eliminate temperature and moisture control problems in said cavity. 

1. In a mobile home construction having at least one room, a ceiling for said room, a roof, means including rafter means for mounting said roof above said ceiling and defining a chamber overlying said ceiling, and air treating means for circulating air through said room, the improvement comprising: a. a blanket of insulation mounted under said roof, above said chamber; b. an opening permitting passage of air between said chamber and said room; c. a further opening into said chamber leading to said air treating means to thereby provide air circulation through said room and said chamber and; d. a vapor barrier mounted under said blanket of insulation, and another vapor barrier overlying said ceiling, said chamber being located between said vapor barriers.
 2. In a mobile home having a floor, a plurality of rooms, a ceiling, and a roof spaced from said ceiling by a plurality of spaced rafters having air flow passages therethrough to define a chamber between said ceiling and said roof, the improvement comprising: a. a first vapor barrier overlying said rafters and a second vapor barrier overlying said ceiling, said chamber being located therebetween; b. a blanket of insulation between said first vapor barrier and said roof; c. said mobile home having air treating means in a first one of said rooms for circulating air to the other rooms thereof; d. a first air return opening leading to said chamber in the ceilinG of at least one of said other rooms; and e. a second air return opening leading to said chamber in the ceiling of said first room, said air being circulated to said rooms by said air treating means then flowing into said chamber through said first opening and returning to said air treating means through said second opening after passage through said chamber.
 2. a peak-forming upper member connected at its opposite ends to said base member and spaced from said base member therebetween, and
 3. spaced, vertically extending supports connecting said members; b. a first vapor barrier overlying said rafters; c. a blanket of insulation mounted above said vapor barrier; d. means mounting said roof on said rafters over said blanket of insulation; e. a second vapor barrier overlying said ceiling; f. means securing said ceiling and said second vapor barrier beneath said base members of said rafters, thereby defining a ventilation cavity between said vapor barriers; g. air treating means in a first room for circulating air to the other rooms of said mobile home; h. a first air return opening in the ceiling and second vapor barrier of at least one of said other rooms; and i. a second air return opening in the ceiling and second vapor barrier of said first room, permitting air to circulate from said other rooms through said ventilation cavity and return to said air treating means to thereby eliminate temperature and moisture control problems in said cavity.
 3. The mobile home of claim 2 wherein first air return openings are provided in at least two of said other rooms, said first room being located therebetween.
 4. In combination with a mobile home having a floor, opposite side walls, a plurality of rooms, a ceiling and a roof: a. plurality of spaced rafters extending between and supported by said side walls, each of said rafters having: 